Elastic shaft coupling



Dec. 26, 1933. THIRY ELASTIC SHAFT COUPLING Filed July 17, 1928 INVENTOB,

Patented Dec. 26, 1933 1,941,061

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ems-no snar'r cournmc Leon Thiry, Huy, Belgium Application July 17, 1928, Serial No. 293,314. and

in France September 9, 1927. i

7 Claims. (cl. 64-96) The present invention relates to shaft member 7. As is seen in Figure 4 the surfaces couplings which are used for connecting two of the members 6 and-'1 which contact the ring shafts or other machine parts and transmitting 8 are circular in cross section. Due to the great power from one another. The elastic couplings deformation of the ring-8, it will stronglyadhere of this class are adapted to transmit the to the socket 6 and member '7, and the adhesion is w torque while at the same time absorbing the so calculated that it will be suiiicient to transmit 'shocks, jarring and sudden variations of the the desired driving torque.

driving torque, and also operating to some ex- Due to the plastic nature of the indie. rubber, tent as a Cardan joint when the axes of rotation the shafts may be coupled even if for any reason, of the two elements to be coupled are not exactly such as faulty assembling, wear orthe like, the as in alignment. axes of shafts 3 and 2 are not perfectly in line, The invention has for its object an elastic shaft the coupling acting as a Cardan joint. On the coupling of a very simple and substantial conother hand, in the case of sudden variations in struction, and by which the above-mentioned the driving torque, and chiefly when starting, 1 condition will be properly fulfilled. The said the india rubber ring 8 forms a shock absorber, 70 coupling is essentially characterized in that'it and this property makes it particularly advancomprises a hollow-member securedto one of the tageous when used to connect a starter to the rotating members, and a ring consisting of india n e 1 a m t r v l rubber or like plastic substance which is inter- In the case of a still more violent shock (due to posed between the said hollow member and the a ex di ly rapid va ia i of the d v other rotating member, said ring being considtorque) t i die rubber ring 8 may t p y erably stretched in the direction of the axis in sl w t reference t t talli m m s. such manner as to exert a strong pressure u on whereby the shock will not be transmitted to the the metallic surfaces which are-in contact thereengine other dr ven mec anism. with and thus to produce the adhesion required Should the adhesion due to compression be inso to transmit the driving torque. sufficient to transmitthe driving torque, I may Acoupling of this construction offers particular p y metallic members which are fl d. advantages for connecting the starter and difstriated or otherwise shaped. For the said memferential gear with the engine of a motor vebersImay substitute other suitable members havhicle. ing an oval cross section (Fig. 2), a triangular In the appended drawing: section, or a clover leaf section (Fig. 3) or the Fig. 1 is a vertical section of an elastic coupling like.

according to the invention. If the coupling serves to connect the starter Figs. 2 and 3 are end views of the two forms with the engine of a motor vehicle, the said of the indie rubber ring. coupling may obviously be mounted between the M Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the fine H. starter and the end of the crankshaft, or between of Figure 1; and the starter anda pinion engaging a toothed ring Fig. 5 is a side elevational View of "the coupling minim/ed 0n the flywheel 0f the e g e- T s used to connect an engine with the rear difiercoupling may also be used for c nnecting the ential gearing of a motor vehicle. engine with the differential gearing of the rear 95 Referring to the drawing, 1 is an electric motor wheels, as ShOWIl in Figure which serves to start a vehicle engine, and whose Having now described my invention, what I shaft 3 is to be coupled to the crankshaft 2 of claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patthe engine by an elastic coupling. The elastic cut is:

coupling according to the invention comprises 1. An eiastic shaft coupling comprising a holw a. disc 4 which is keyed to the shaft 3 and to low member secured to one of the shafts to be which is bolted the flange 5 of a socket 6 havcoupled, an inner member secured to the other ing a cylindrical configuration. Between the shaft and a ring of elastic material inserted besaid socket 6 and a second cylindrical member 7, tween said members and considerably elongated keyed to the crankshaft 2, is interposed a ring 8 in the axial direction, due to being compressed in 5 of indie. rubber or like plastic-substance, which a radial direction to thereby lengthen the same is considerably stretched or elongated in the diand produce the necessary adhesion, the crossrection of the axis, or otherwise stated, the thicksection of these members and ring being circular. ness of said ring in the free state is much greater 2. A shaft coupling comprising a driving memthan th radial space between the socket 6 and her and a driven member of substantially circular 119 cross section arranged in telescoping relation about the axes of the driving and driven shafts with a live rubber sleeve occupying the space between the peripheries of said telescoping members and held therebetween under a high degree of mass tension, whereby to eflect the driving connection therebetween.

3. A shaft coupling comprising substantially circular telescoping driving and driven members and a distortable sleeve interposed between said telescoping members and effecting driving connection therebetween, the telescoping portions of said substantially circular members extending about the axes of the shafts, said distortable sleeve being held in a substantially distorted condition between said telescoped members whereby to effect the driving connection therebetween by reason of thefrictional engagement of said distortable sleeve with the telescoping members.

4. A shaft coupling comprising a driving memher, a driven member, a body of distortable material interposedbetween said driving and driven members and held in position between said mem-- bers under a mass tension suflicient to eflect a frictional driving connection between said driving and driven members.

5. A shaft coupling comprising a driving member, a driven member, a body of distortable material interposed between said driving and driven a members under a degree of distortion sufilcient to effect a frictional adhesion between said members under all normal driving loads.

6. A shaft coupling comprising spaced telescoping driving and driven members, alive rubber member occupying the space between said driving and driven members and held in a substantially distorted condition therebetween, whereby to effect a driving connection, the rubber member being distorted to a sufficient degree to effect a driving connection between said driving and driven members without the interposition of projections into the mass of the rubber member, said rubber member having a substantially uniform cross section throughout its circumferential extent.

7. An article of manufacture comprising spaced telescoping driving and driven members having opposed substantially circular'surfaces and a live rubber member occupying the space between and contacting with the opposed surfaces of said driving and driven members and held in a substantially distorted condition therebetween, whereby to effect a driving connection, the rubber being distorted to a sufficient degree to effect a driving connection between said opposed surfaces of said driving and driven members, said rubber member having a substantially uniform cross section throughout its circumferential extent.

LEON THIRY.

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